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Posts Tagged ‘fun facts’

Warren G. Harding

(March 1921 – August 1923)

First Off: A Prize to Anyone who knows what the G stands for without looking it up!!!

  • Wobbly Warren
  • Prsident Hardly
  • Ran on the Slogan: A Return to Normalcy (A word Harding made up for his campaign – which obvs. peeved HL Mencken (see quote below)).
  • His mother called him ‘Winnie’ (Gotta Admit: Not too butch)

 harding_warren

THE TRIVIAL:

  • Generally and consistently ranked by scholars as one of the worst presidents of all time.
  • Harding played poker at least twice a week, once gambling away a set of presidential china dating back to Benjamin Harrison. His cabinet was often referred to as the Poker Cabinet because they all played poker together.
  • Many incorrectly claim that Harding coined the term ‘bloviating’ but it was recorded in print prior to Harding’s birth.
  • Both of Harding’s parents were doctors.
  • First President to have a golf course named after him.
  • First newspaper publisher to be elected president.
  • First President to travel to Canada (He stopped over on the way to Alaska. Also; He was the first president to visit Alaska).
  • Warren G  has the distinction of having the largest feet of any president with a size 14.
  • And PS – the G stands for Gamaliel.

And finally, we leave you with a quote from H. L. Mencken:

He writes the worst English that I have ever encountered. It reminds me of a string of wet sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing on the line; it reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically through endless nights. It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it. It drags itself out of the dark abysm of pish, and crawls insanely up the topmost pinnacle of posh. It is rumble and bumble. It is flap and doodle. It is balder and dash

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NickNames

  • The Schoolmaster in Politics
  • The Professor
  • The Phrasemaker
  • Coiner of Weasal Words

woodrow_wilson

 

Trivia

  • Wilson didn’t learn his letters until he was 9, didn’t learn to read until he was 13. So, Good News, Illiterate tweens! You too can grow up to be president of Princeton and the good ole US of A. But…you  probably won’t.
  • Though they never met, Sigmund Freud wrote a treatise on Wilson that claimed he likened himself to Jesus Christ.
  • Wilson was married when he was in office to Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. Is it just me or do her middle and maiden names sound like they should be hyphenated and used as a nickname like “Machine Gun” Kelly?
  • An avid golfer, Wilson used a black ball when he played in the snow.
  • Woody Guthrie is named after him (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie).
  • Election results were broadcast for the first time by WWJ in Detroit, MI. (What, did they not have hologram results with Wolf Blitzer back then?)
  • After suffering a massive stroke that left him partially paralyzed and nearly blind, his wife ran a “Petticoat Government” She was also referred to as the Iron Queen, the Presidentress and the Regent. Generally considered the most powerful First Lady there ever was.
  • Woodrow Wilson had a pet sheep named “Old Ike” that would chew tobacco and graze on the South Lawn.
  • Second president to address Congress (the first was Washington).
  • His vice president Marshall was the one to utter the famous bon mot, “What this country needs is a good five cent cigar.” Here-Here.

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William Howard Taft

1909-1913

Nicked Names

  • Old Bill
  • Big Lub
  • FattyFatty 2×4 Can’t Fit Thru The Bathroom Door
  • The 27th President, 10th Chief Justice of US Supreme Court, 1st Provisional Governor of Cuba, 42nd US Secretary of War, 1st Civil Governor of the Philippines, 5th US Solicitor General, 1st in line at a buffet

williamhowardtaft

Taft is really the president that ought to be known as the Trustbuster. He busted over 80, beating that so-called buster (Teddy ‘Not as Busted’ Roosevelt) by about 40. Taft just didn’t happen to rail against business in his rhetoric. That’s right Taft is twice the buster TR ever was, suckas!

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 Theodore Roosevelt

 

  • Theodore the Meddler
  • Trustbuster
  • TR or Teddy
  • The Cyclone Assemblyman
  • Rough Rider and Hero of San Juan Hill
  • Old Four Eyes
  • The Lion

(Walk softly and stand near a big globe).

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William McKinley

Served 1897-1901

  • The Napolean of Protection (For his love of tariffs)
  • The Major (referring to his rank in the Civil War; used by intimates and family, not publically)
  • The Idol of Ohio
  • The Stocking-footed Orator (Cute!)

 

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Benjamin Harrison

In Office: 1889-1893

  • KidGloves Harrison (attributed to the mudslinging or to the fact that he was prone to skin rashes and wore gloves frequently)
  • The White House Iceberg or Human Iceberg (Gave warm speeches to groups but was very cold one-on-one)
  • Young Tippecanoe (Grandson of Ol Tippecanoe)
  • The Front Porch Campaigner (gave more than 90 impromptu speeches from his front porch)
  • Grandfather’s Hat (from Campaign song “Grandfather’s Hat Fits Ben”)
Benjamin Harrison Picture
Benjamin Harrison

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Chester A. Arthur

Sept 19, 1881 – March 4, 1885

 

 

  • Elegant Arthur
  • The Gentleman Boss
  • The Dude President (Inspiration for the “Big Lebowski”)
  • Our Chet

                                  CAA-c1859.jpg

 

Arthir was chosen by Garfield to be his running mate at the 1880 Republican National Convention because he was a stalwart (the support of which Garfield did not have) and Garfield knew the vote would be close. In some ways this was to be his undoing since Charles Guiteau shot Garfield saying “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts…Arthur is president now!!” Arthur was shocked by the assassination and mortified of Guiteau’s claim of political unity.

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James A. Garfield

March 4, 1881-September 19, 1881

 

  • The President Preacher (was a lay preacher for the Church of Christ)
  • Boatman Jim or The Canal Boy (referring to early occupation)
  • The Plow-Boy of Ohio

At the time of the Republican National Convention, Garfield was a current member of the House of Representatives. Right before he left for the convention, he had been named to replace a senate seat from Ohio that had just been vacated. By the 36th vote at the convention, Garfield had been named nominee for the presidential election and that senate seat Garfield now declined eventually went to John Sherman (who Garfield had gone to the convention to support as presidential nominee).

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HISTORICAL EVENTS:

  • 1538 – Bogota, Columbia is founded by Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada
  • 1776 – 60 ‘proof sheets’ of the Constition of the United States are delivered to the Continental Congress
  • 1806 – Francis II, the last Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire
  • 1890 - At Auburn Prison in NY, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person executed by electric chair
  • 1909 – Alice Ramsay and 3 friends are the first women to complete a transcontinental automobile trip
  • 1912 – Bull Moose Party convenes in Chicago
  • 1923 – Henry Sullivan swims the English Channel
  • 1926 – Henry Houdini performs his greatest trick, sealed underwater for 91 minutes
  • 1945 – Hiroshima is devastated by atomic bomb ”Little Boy”

FAMOUS BIRTHS:

  •  Alfred, Lord Tennyson (poet) – 1809
  • Alexander Fleming (scientist) – 1881
  • Louella Parsons (gossip hag) – 1881
  • Dutch Schultz (bootlegger) – 1902
  • Lucille Ball (comedienne) – 1911
  • Robert Mitchum (actor) – 1917
  • Andy Warhol (artist) – 1928
  • Piers Anthony (English writer) – 1934
  • Michelle Yeoh (Chinese actress) – 1962
  • Elliot Smith (musician) – 1969
  • M Night Shaymalan (director ) -1970
  • Geri Halliwell (Spice Girl) – 1972
  • Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) -1976
  • Adrianne Curry (Brady Snatcher) – 1982
  • Jon Benet Ramsay (murdered child model*) -1990

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Andrew Johnson

April 1865-March 1869

  • Father of the Homestead Act
  • Andrew the Sot (for giving an inaugural address as Veep in a less than sober state)
  • Old Andy
  • The Tennessee Tailor
  • Sir Veto

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Abraham Lincoln

(1861-1865)

  • Honest Abe
  • The Great Emancipator
  • The Floatboatman
  • The Rail Splitter
  • The Sage of Springfield
  • The Abolition Emperor or King Linkum the First
  • The Uncommon Friend of the Common Man
  • The Original Gorilla and The Orangutan in the White House
  • The Sectional President

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Franklin Pierce

(1853-1857)

  • Handsome Frank- He found this embarrassing
  • The Hero of A Well-Fought Bottle – Refers to his lack of military command and his known drinking habits.
  • The Fainting General- Reference by his opponents to an incident when an artillery blast blew his saddle horn into his abdomen, causing him to loose consciousness for a few moments.
  • Young Hickory Of Granite Hills- Comparing his military deeds with Andrew Jackson, and Granite Hills refered to his New Hampshire background

Alright Folks, we’re at a tough time in our nation’s history. We’re leading up to #16 and the Civil War. What’re you gonna do, Handsome Frank?

 

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Millard Fillmore

July 1850- March 1853

  • The Accidental President
  • Wool-Carder-President
  • The American Louis Philippe

 

 

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James K. Polk (1845-1849)

  • Young Hickory -Because he was backed by “Old Hickory,” Andrew Jackson
  • Napoleon of the Stump -Due to fiery speeches at the stump
  • Dark Horse Candidate – Le Duh.

(Wait. – Are you seeing what I’m seeing? James Polk rocked a mullet. Kudos).

When Polk took office he had four clear objectives:

  • Purchase of California from Mexico
  • Reduction of tariffs
  • Re-establish the Independent Treasury System
  • Acquire part or all of the Oregon territory

Resolved to only serve one term, Polk accomplished all four of his goals. (Are you loving Polk yet? Doesn’t he seem like a breath of fresh air?)

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Another Day, another celebration of a special someone’s birth.

On This Day in History:

  •  1581 – Sir Francis Drake completes his circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I
  • 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time
  • 1818 – The United States Congress adopts the flag of the US with 13 red and white stripes and a star for each state (then 20).
  • 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first president to die in office and the president to have the shortest term at 31 days
  • 1850 – Los Angeles, Ca is incorporated as a city
  • 1960 – Senegal Independence Day
  • 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top 5  positions on Billboards pop chart
  • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr assassinated in Memphis
  • 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6
  • 1975 – Microsoft is founded by a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen
  • 1983 – Space shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage
  • 1994 – Netscape founded by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clarke
  • 2008 – iTunes overtakes Wal-Mart as leader in music distribution

Born on This Day:

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Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)

  • Old Kinderhook (from Kinderhook, NY)
  • Little Magician
  • Machiavellian Belshazzar
  • Martin Van Ruin (in office during the economic crisis 0f 1837)
  • Petticoat Pet (after his fancy dress)
  • The American Tallyrand (comparison to the devious Frenchman) 

martinvanburen.jpg

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